Mini-Lesson

Teacher(s)
Name

Mrs. Moore

Grade Level(s)

6th

Content Area

ELA

Standards
Content Standards
(GPS)

ELAGSE6L2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English

capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (a) Use punctuation
(commas, parentheses, dashes) to set off nonrestrictive/parenthetical elements.
(b) Spell correctly.
ELAGSE6RL3 Describe how a particular storys or dramas plot unfolds in
a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the
plot moves towards a resolution.

NETS*S (ISTE)
Standards:

2.a Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools
and resources to promote student learning and creativity
4. a Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital
information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual
property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

Overview: Provide a short summary of the lesson or unit including topic, assignment or
expected/possible products.
This lesson is part of a series of lessons that I have been doing with my students over The House of Dies
Drear. Since the standards for ELA overlap one another and are woven all throughout the course year,
each lesson usually focuses on one or two while touching on several more at the same time. For this
lesson, my students are to summarize a chapter of the novel. Students are instructed to take notes about
the story as we listen to the book on audio. Then, on the days that they are to write a summary, they are

supposed to write at least one paragraph that summarizes each chapter based upon their notes. The
focus of this lesson is to help students become better writers. At the beginning of the year, the majority of
my students could not write a complete sentence. They also nor did theynot use correct punctuation and
capitalization. Therefore, I have designed my class where we work on this throughout each week along
with incorporating all the other standards for ELA.

Resources: How does the LMS (e.g., Edmodo) you chose support student learning? Give some
specific ideas using particular features of the LMS.
Edmodo supports student learning in this task by enabling me to critique their summaries. This and
aallowsing them to go back a rewrite their workthem based on my feedback. All they have to do is click on
the Reply button at the bottom of my message. I love this feature because t he more students can polish
their writing, the better they will get at it. Teachers can also allow students to critique each others work.
This would be ideal for gifted classes. However, I have not used this since the majority of my students
have not mastered the basics of writing paragraphs using the proper conventions just yet.

Instruction and Activities: What learning activities will students complete and how will they
complete them (e.g., online discussion in Edmodo)? How will you differentiate content and
process to accommodate various learning styles and abilities?
So far, I have been doing quizzes on Edmodo as well as assigning summaries and writing prompts for
them to turn in. With the quizzes, the students go into the question bank that I created specifically for
themtheir class. I usually use a mixture of multiple choice, true false, and constructed response questions.
As I discussed before, I also have students complete writing assignments on Edmodo. I teach inclusion
classes and I base my assessment of their writing on their current abilities. The most effective way that I
have found to strengthen my struggling students is to try to get them to focus on the main problems with
writing coherent passages to begin with. If you try to point out every single thing that is wrong with their
writing, it will overwhelm them and likely discourage the student. I try to

Assessment: How will you assess how students are progressing and what they produce/do (e.g.,
a quiz in Edmodo)?
I assess how each student progresses by assigning a grade for each task they do on Edmodo. Student
writing is graded on a rubric covering C.U.P.S. (Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, and Sentences). I also
monitor their writing to be sure they are not violating copyright laws by using passages straight out of the
book. If a student does this, they have to go back and rewrite their passages in their own words.
The quizzes are automatically assigned a grade on the website. The only thing that I have to do is go
back and review the constructed responses. After each assignment, I print out each students work and
place them into a folder. This helps me monitor their progress. It also provides me with the documentation
that I need in order to show parents where their child is struggling. .